Yardie

Life in Hackney as lived in the 1980s by immigrants from Jamaica.

As
far as general audiences are concerned, the chief selling point of this
film is that it is the first feature to be directed by the actor Idris
Elba. That’s fair enough since, working closely with his photographer
John Conroy and his editor Justine Wright, he conveys his enthusiasm
for this new role. But, since this is a tale about Jamaicans living in
Hackney in 1983 prefaced by earlier scenes shot in Jamaica itself, what
will count most for viewers from that country will be the fact that,
cast with due ethnic consideration, Yardie is a film hoping for an international success that will put Jamaica more firmly on the cinema map.

In
point of fact, we have been here before with another drama showing
violence but also featuring Jamaican music as a major selling point.
Last time it was Perry Henzell’s The Harder They Come
and it did make a mark, but that was back in 1972 so one certainly
doesn’t begrudge the emergence of this comparable piece now. However,
while some audiences will lap it up, Yardie
never fully escapes from a problem related to its origins. Victor
Headley’s original novel on which this film is based was a hit despite
being published independently in 1992 but its telling of a story about
a gangster was described as pulp fiction. Apparently Headley went to
extremes in describing the violence of which his central character was
capable, but this adaptation modified that and was designed to make him
more sympathetic despite being conflicted in his outlook.

On screen, Yardie
comes over as a conventional enough tale of a gangster and dealer in
cocaine, D (Aml Ameen), who is sent to London by his boss King Fox
(Sheldon Shepherd) to sell the drug to another bossman, Rico (Stephen
Graham). Once there however, he follows his own course, in particular
seeking out the man, Clancy (Riaze Foster), who during D’s childhood
had killed his older brother, Jerry (Everaldo Creary). But, while this
sets up the action, the film hopes to tell a moral tale in which D’s
lifestyle is criticised by the wife who had moved to London earlier
with their young daughter to find a better life. The wife is Yvonne
played by Shantol Jackson.

The
fact that D tells his own story in voice over allows for certain
freedoms: a number of songs feature on the soundtrack making this a
drama that does not rely on realism, Graham and Shepherd are allowed to
give extravagant performances and at intervals the dead Jerry puts in
brief ghost-like appearances. All of this will work for the right
audience, but one suspects that many viewers will relish the action too
much: the film indulges it enough to prevent the moral theme from being
as serious and effective as it should have been. Even so, Ameen seizes
the chance to play a central role and, aided by the fact that she has
the best-written part, Shantol Jackson emerges as the most engaging
player of all.